(New York) The policeman of the American Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced on Tuesday the increase in its number of employees responsible for regulating cryptocurrencies and fighting against fraudulent activities on this market.
Posted at 7:41 a.m.
Updated at 7:41 a.m.
The SEC will fill 20 new positions in this department, renamed Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, bringing the total number of jobs to 50.
“By nearly doubling the size of this crucial service, the SEC will be better equipped to monitor malfeasance in the cryptocurrency market while continuing to identify transparency and oversight issues relating to cybersecurity,” the SEC said in a statement. the chairman of the stock exchange authority, Gary Gensler.
SEC experts will focus in particular on offenses related to cryptocurrency offers, cryptocurrency exchange platforms, stablecoins (cryptocurrencies whose price is pegged to another currency or financial product) or even tokens. non-fungible (or NFT), these digital certificates of authenticity are supposed to be tamper-proof.
Many trading platforms are headquartered outside the United States, thereby escaping the direct control of US federal authorities.
Since taking over the reins of the SEC in April 2021, Mr. Gensler has insisted on strengthening the regulation of the cryptocurrency market, believing that the same laws must apply there as in other financial markets.
“Let’s not take the risk of undermining 90 years of laws on financial assets by creating regulatory arbitrage or leaving legal loopholes,” he pleaded during a speech in early April.